As a religious and national symbol of the Illyrians the snake was present in numerous folk beliefs and practices around Bosnia and Herzegovina. The cult of the snake the guardian of the hearth and home and a holly animal with which all of the Illyrian tribes identified with was so dominant in the religion of our ancestors that the arrival of Slavs and monotheism couldn't uproot it.
The belief in the snake a guardian of the house was widespread around Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was believed that she is inside a hole in a wall or a nearby hole in the ground from where she protects the inhabitants of the house. Her presence was never doubted even when none of the inhabitants have seen her. According to folk belief she was usually of a dark hue, and as a protector of the house she was usually gifted with food placed next to the house or a hole. In such a way people showed devotion and gratitude. As a totem symbol she was directly connected with the owner of the house and therefore it was forbidden to kill her out of fear that the owner might also die or someone else from the family. However, the in difficult times the snake could sacrifice itself to protect the inhabitants of a household.
The belief in the snake a guardian of the house was widespread around Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was believed that she is inside a hole in a wall or a nearby hole in the ground from where she protects the inhabitants of the house. Her presence was never doubted even when none of the inhabitants have seen her. According to folk belief she was usually of a dark hue, and as a protector of the house she was usually gifted with food placed next to the house or a hole. In such a way people showed devotion and gratitude. As a totem symbol she was directly connected with the owner of the house and therefore it was forbidden to kill her out of fear that the owner might also die or someone else from the family. However, the in difficult times the snake could sacrifice itself to protect the inhabitants of a household.
Since the snake was a totem symbol from the ancient times we shouldn't be surprised by graphical depictions through drawings on the house or tattoos on the skin. Tattooing was also a heritage from the Illyrians which was upheld by the Croatian Catholics from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the form of a tattoo of the cross on the hand but it was also noted among the Bosnian Muslims in the form of a snake. Augustin Kristić in his ethnological work "From the folk medicine of Bosnia and Herzegovina" (original title: Urežnjaci iz narodnog liječenja po Bosni i Hercegovini ), mentions tattooing of the snake on the arms: "Not a lot, but on the hands of women and less in men, I came across a tattoo of a snake. By asking: "Why did you tattoo a snake?" I didn't get the same response everywhere. The Most common answers were: "It protects against spellbound eyes", "It brings luck", "I won't get bitten by a snake".
While among the Arab people we come across a practice of painting a hand on the walls of the houses as a prophylactic symbol against spellbound eyes and evil in Bosnia and Herzegovina we see carvings or drawings of a snake. In such a manner it was clearly shown that the house was under the protection of the snake, its guardian, which has the power to protect the entire family from the disease, evil and bad luck. It is interesting to mention a few examples of how the snake cult adopted into Islam, the religion of the Bosnian and Hercegovinian people, i.e. into the representation of the religion according to the people also called "folk Islam" which is much more liberal and tolerant from the official Islam in which the old Illyrian religion is mentioned through monotheistic tradition. According to the tradition from Velika Kladuša, a snake saved Noah's ark and by that act the entire world. In that legend a mouse made a hole in the bottom of the ark through which water started coming in. The only animal that realised what was happening was the snake, she quickly jumped on the mouse swallowed him and curled on top of the hole and stopped the water from coming in. That's why among the folk there is a belief that it is a sin to kill a snake since it indebted the entire human animal species. A snake like the sheep can be a sacrifice to God i.e. kurban. When a house is threatened by a great evil or bad luck, the snake (guardian) senses it and offers itself willingly as kurban (sacrifice) to save that family. Usually in such extreme moments the snake appears in front of the enemy of that family trying to attack him/her in order for him/her to be frightened and punished. In such events it was often the case that the snake died but her death according to folk belief would remove the danger from the home. Uncommonly if the snake felt a great evil arrive she would attack the owner of the house in order that the owner can kill the snake and neutralise the danger and remove the evil from the house. Either in this case only or generally in all other it was believed that a pierced or severed snake cannot fully die until the sun sets in the west, which undoubtedly points to the folk belief of interconnectedness between the sun and the snake. But, that is a topic which we will discuss at length some other time.
KULT ZMIJE
Zmija kao religijski i nacionalni simbol Ilira prisutna je u mnogobrojnim narodnim vjerovanjima i praksi po Bosni i Hercegovini. Kult zmije čuvarice kućnog ognjišta i svete životinje sa kojom su se identificirala sva ilirska plemena toliko je bio dominantan u religijskoj svijesti naših predaka da ga nisu uspjeli potisnuti ni dolazak Slavena niti pojava monoteizma. Vjerovanje u zmiju koja je čuvar kuće rašireno je po cijeloj Bosni i Hercegovini. Smatralo se da se ona nalazi u nekoj rupi u zidu ili obližnjoj rupi u zemlji odakle štiti i pazi na njene ukućane. U njeno prisustvo se nikada nije sumnjalo čak i onda kada je niko od članova familije ne bi vidio. Po narodnom uvjerenju ona je obično bila zmija tamne boje, i kao zaštitnici doma ostavljana joj je ponekad hrana pored kuće ili neke rupe. Time se iskazivala ljubav i zahvalnost. Kao totemski simbol ona se direktno povezivala sa vlasnikom kuće te ju stoga bilo zabranjeno ubiti iz straha da ne umre vlasnik kuće ili neko drugi iz familije. No, zmija je mogla u posebno kriznim trenutcima za kuću žrtvovati samu sebe kako bi odbranila ukućane od zla.
Pošto je od davnina zmija bila totemski simbol ne treba čuditi ni praksa grafičkog prikazivanje kroz crtanje na zidu kuće ili tetoviranjem na koži. Tetoviranje je još jedno nasljeđe Ilira koje se najviše zadržalo kod katolickih Hrvata u Bosni i Hercegovini u obliku tetovaže križa na ruci. Ali kao pojava zabilježeno je i kod Bošnjaka gdje se koristio simbol zmije. Augustin Kristić u svom etnološkom radu „Urežnjaci iz narodnog liječenja Bosne i Hercegovine“, navodi pojavu tetoviranja zmije na rukama: „Ne baš mnogo, ali sam na rukama žena, i u znatno manjem broju kod muškaraca, po Bosni i Hercegovini naišao na tetoviranu zmiju. Na pitanje: „Zašto su istetovirale sliku zmije? nigdje nisam dobio isti odgovor. Najčešći odgovori su bili: „Brani od urokljivih očiju“, „Donosi sreću“, „Neće me zmija ujesti“.
Dok kod arapskog naroda nalazimo praksu odslikavanja ljudske ruke na zidovima kuća kao profilaktički simbol protiv urokljivih očiju i zla u Bosni i Hercegovini se na zidu kuće uklesavala ili crtala figura zmija. Time se na jasan način pokazivalo kako je kuća pod zaštitom zmije, njenog čuvara, koja ima moć da odbrani cijelu familiju od bolesti, zla i nesreće. Zanimljivo je navesti nekoliko primjera kako se kult zmije adaptirao u islam, vjeru Bošnjaka, tojest u „folk islam“ koji je daleko liberalniji i tolerantniji od oficijelnog, u kojem se vjerovanja stare ilirske vjere provlače kroz monoteističke predaje. Prema predaji iz Velike Kladuše zmija je spasila Noinu arku a time i sav živi svijet. U toj legendi miš je progrizao rupu na dnu Arke kroz koju je počela ulaziti voda. Jedina od svih životinja zmija je primjetila što se događa, brzo je skočila na miša i progutala ga a zatim se sklupčala iznad rupe i tako spriječila vodu da ulazi u Arku. Zbog toga se u narodu vjeruje da je zmiju veliki grijeh ubiti jer je zadužila cio ljudski i životinjski rod. Zmija može biti poput ovce žrtva bogu tojest kurban. Kada kući zaprijeti veliko zlo ili nesreća to zmija, čuvarica tog doma, osjeti i ponudi se svojevoljno kao kurban (žrtva) da spasi tu familiju. Obično u tim ekstremnim momentima zmija se pojavi pred vlasnikom kuće ili nekim drugim ukućaninom pokušavajući ga napasti kako bi se ovaj odbranio i ubio je. Kada je ubije vjeruje se da je njena smrt otklonila opasnost ili eventualnu smrt nekog člana familije. Da li samo u ovom slučaju ili općenito u svim drugim vjerovalo se da probodena ili presječena zmija ne može potpuno umrijeti sve dok Sunce ne zađe na zapadu, što bez sumnje upućuje na narodnu predstavu o povezanosti sunca i zmije. No, to je tema o kojoj će nekom drugom prilikom biti više riječi.
Izvor: www.mythology.blogger.ba
Izvor: www.mythology.blogger.ba
